Scotland

Can only give you advice on Edinburgh, are you planning to spend a couple of days there although it might be info you already have.

We don't do long hikes when we travel. However, when we were in Fort William we had dinner at the Ben Nevis Inn. Lots of hikers were heading down from Ben Nevis - the path seems to end at the Inn / Pub.

There is a great website called walkhighlands that lists tons of different walks with varying gradients. Also, check out undiscoveredscotland for what look like great driving loop tours -- I am going to drive their Oban-Glencoe tour next month.

There is a great website called walkhighlands that lists tons of different walks with varying gradients. Also, check out undiscoveredscotland for what look like great driving loop tours -- I am going to drive their Oban-Glencoe tour next month.

There are lots of hikes. How rigorous a walk are you looking for? There are coastal walks on Lewis. Ask in the TI. In Ullapool, there are some lovely walks in the hills immediately above the town. I'm sure that the TI could give advice. On Skye again there are lots of walks. The longest hike I did on Skye was from Sligachan in towards the Cuillins. You can hike in as far as you have energy. We walked in to where there was a view of Loch Curuisk. Of course, if you're fit you can climb Ben Nevis near Fort William. Or if you want to just do a wander check out Glen Nevis. I've not done much hiking in Aberdeenshire--too busy looking at castles there. If you base out of Inverness at all, Glen Afric is beautiful. Check out some of the walking sites. Walking = Hiking in the UK. http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/ I would recommend hiking boots. You should have a good waterproof jacket with a hood. You might want to pick up a midge hat in Edinburgh. The sports shops have them. I got one in New Town. I was also persuaded to finally buy rain pants and they are wonderful and worth it. Pam

We went to the Isle of Lewis last summer and did some hiking. Really beautiful part of the country. One particularly memorable hike started at Dalmore Beach on the west coast of Lewis. The beach is beautiful with cliffs jutting into the ocean and a local cemetery overlooking the beach. You walk along the cliff for a while and then cut inland a bit and then walk to the next beach which looks nothing like the first, being all rocks and boulders. Near Talbert, if you take the road going west from Talbert it turns into B887. Take that all the way to the beach at the end of that road. You can walk the beach there, but we kept driving on the sand road another 1/8 mile or so and you come to a lovely hill of wild flowers (lots of bunnies, too) overlooking the coast from which you can see more of the coast of Lewis. Great picture taking opportunity. Of course there are also the Callenish (sp?) standing stones on Lewis which are fantastic. You can just walk around them and between them--they predate the Egyptian pyramids. Lewis is desolate but beautiful too. We encountered very few tourists and found it very peaceful.

I forgot to mention...pick up a small booklet called Scotland Hikes or something like that. It fits in the palm of your hand so you can carry it on day hikes. It details wonderful hikes on Lewis, Harris, and Skye. That's how we found out about the hike at Dalmore beach. We also did a short hike on Skye, near Kilmuir I believe.